100 California State Park Closures to be Known Soon

It is expected that a list of about 100 California state parks that may be closing will be known to park districts across the state sometime shortly after Labor Day.

“By Labor Day we should have a list of which parks will be closing,” Shannon Gillespie of the Mendocino District Office near the town of Mendocino said Tuesday (Aug. 25), according to the Ukiah Daily Journal.

Roy Stearns, a spokesman for California State Parks, said an awaited list of closures will be known sometime after Labor Day.

“It is not ready yet,” Stearns said. He said 100 is an estimated figure for closures at this time.

Stearns said that consideration for closure is not regional or based on value. “It is a business decision,” Stearns said, adding that officials look wherever a park closure can have a savings to help close the budget gap.

Cuts to state parks this year total $14.2 million or 10% of the general fund. In 2010, state parks expect to lose $8 million with an estimated additional $5 million loss from park closures.